I've recently tested Ferrania's Orto 50 in 35mm for the first time. As with all new film stocks I was excited to give it a try.
I shot a roll through my Nikon F4 and a roll through a Hasselblad X-Pan. Both rolls were used on different but very sunny days. Both rolls were home developed using stock Kodak D-76 for 7 minutes as recommended by Ferrania.
Not going to lie I didn't like the results. The key word for this film based on how I shot and developed the film is CONTRAST. This might be an understatement. Honestly, the images straight out of the scanner are unusable without significant editing.
Examples from the XPan:
Examples from the Nikon F4:
I might be able to tone down the contrast and improve quality of the images by spot metering on the shadows. However, the Nikon was matrix metered and I didn't consider it with the XPan.
A few observations about the images without editing:
- The shadows / midtones are so dark every dust spot shows up like a spotlight,
- Highlights are surprisingly understated,
- Grain is very fine / almost non-existing,
HOWEVER, there is detail in the shadows and because of the fine grain / moderate highlights there is lots of room to edit the images.
I normally don't spend much time editing my film images, but for this film I did .... A LOT. All of the images were edited in both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
Here are some of the above photos that have been edited:
Bottomline, I don't like making negative comments about any film stock, but I don't think I'll be using this film again. I prefer less contrast even though I enjoy the fine grain. However, if you enjoy contrast or are shooting in more muted lighting the Orto 50 may be for you.
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